


Betrayal

by BXVAce



Series: The Mandalorian Gunslinger [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Bounty Hunters, Mandalorian, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26897707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BXVAce/pseuds/BXVAce
Summary: Ace finds himself in a sticky situation between Double Trouble and House Renliss.
Series: The Mandalorian Gunslinger [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2047793
Kudos: 4





	Betrayal

Ace’s U-Wing flew over the rainy jungle and he flew it to a large platform that reached over the ferns. Standing on the platform was a lone cloaked, hood up to cover them from the rain. When the ship landed and the door opened, Ace stepped out of his ship and approached the figure.

“You better have a good reason for bringing me out here in this weather, Double Trouble.” Ace said.

Adjusting their hood, the shadow over Double Trouble’s face faded to show the reptilian shapeshifter’s famous smirk. They told Ace, “Oh, I think you’ll just love this. It’s a very high paying job, darling.”

Double Trouble turned and began to walk off to the stair, Ace following suit. They escalated to the ground and Double Trouble led Ace through the damp and cold jungle. They went on for over ten minutes when Ace saw a large building.

“Care to tell me what’s going on?” Ace asked.

With a chuckle, Double Trouble said without looking back, “You’ll see.”

Double Trouble opened the main gate then the second set of doors, greeted by the sound of rushing water. The two walked into the large area, Ace looking around. Beneath their feet was a wide grate with running water rushing down to a large pit on the far side of the area. Along the concrete floor, there were various crates of different sizes and there was a lone table. The building was a reservoir for groundwater.

Ace looked around and was about to ask Double Trouble why they were there, but there was a loud crackle of electricity and he shouted in pain. He collapsed to the floor unconscious and Double Trouble stood over him, a stun wand in their hand. Looking down at Ace, they just smiled.

The gate to the reservoir opened and three women walked in. Two of them wore basic mercenary gear and uniforms and carrying vibro-voulges, but the lead wore a leather battle suit. She was slightly tanned with dark eyes and hair. This was Gratina Renliss, the surviving leader of House Renliss. She ordered one of her escorts to open the doors and when they opened, they were greeted by the familiar sight of Ace’s green and red Mandalorian armor. All three took a stance and were ready to fight with the guards holding their vibro-voulges and Gratina drew her vibro-arbor blades.

Then, Ace began to laugh, hysterically no less. All three were confused but still on guard.

“Oh darling, you should see your face!” Ace laughed. Then, he morphed right back to Double Trouble, who was still laughing.

Relaxing, Gratina groaned, “I’m glad you think you’re enjoying yourself.”

The guards relaxed and Gratina sheathed her blades as Double Trouble calmed themself. Clearing their throat, Double Trouble said, “Anyways, your team made it on time and we have our prize.”

Gratina smiled and replied, “Good. May I see?”

Double Trouble stood a side, waving their hand in a presenting way, showing Ace standing in the middle of the room, cuffed and surrounded by the main battalion of House Renliss armed with various melee and bladed weapons, two guards pointing their vibro-axes at his neck.

Gratina smiled gleefully as she saw the Mandalorian at her mercy. She strolled up to the captive bounty hunter and got into his face, her guards standing down for her. Gratina reached up and brushed her gloved fingers across the mask of his helmet, Ace not even budging. She smirked and said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen beskar’gam upclose. I must say, it still looks like scrap metal to me.”

While the surrounding women laughed at the insult to the Mandalorians’ prized possession, Ace simply replied, “Gratina Renliss. How’s your sister? She all bone yet?”

Gratina flinched at Ace’s comment. Ace could tell she wanted to throw a punch, but Ace’s beskar would have done more damage to her than him. Instead, she went for the one spot Ace didn’t have any cover on, his groin. Ace groaned loudly and buckled, but he stayed on his feet. He took a few breaths and stood back up.

Impressed, Gratina said, “You’re strong for a man, but then again even Mandalorian men are admirably strong.”

“That’s because only Mandalorian women give birth to the strongest in the galaxy. Not that you’d know, yialeti'r*.”

Gratina didn’t know what Ace called her in Mando’a, but that didn’t worry her. She didn’t even let Ace’s comment phaze her at all, she was washed over with far too much pride. Her smile returned as she waved her guards to return their blades to his neck. She strolled around him and looked around the room at her hunters.

“Ladies, this is just the start of our return.” she proclaimed. “For three years, House Renliss has hidden in the shadow of the New Republic, waiting while the corrupt of the senate hired the Guild. With our captive, we can drive the Guild to their knees.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Ace interrupted her. He looked over his shoulder and told her and the female hunters, “The Guild has far more hunters and superior weapons than you. You’d be wiped out.”

Gratina waved him off and continued to tell her hunters, “We have a Mandalorian in our clutches. With few left and fewer in the Guild, we have the advantage. They won’t let anything happen to their precious crown jewel.”

“Crown jewel? Are you serious?” Ace laughed. “The crown jewel on Garduun is a Trandoshian named Strax’un. You’re not good at information, Renliss.”

Annoyed, one of the guards asked Gratina, “Can I cut his tongue out?”

Double Trouble said to her, “I don’t think so, darling. That will be my trophy.”

Ace looked at Double Trouble and said, “Don’t kid yourself, you tratorus snake. Once I get out of this, I’ll rip that Gungan tongue out of your head.”

“What did you call me?” Double Trouble snarled, stomping up to Ace and getting in his face. Double Trouble didn’t mind being called a “tratorus snake”, but they hated Gungans and Ace knew it.

Gratina stepped in between them and told Double Trouble, “Don’t worry. Once this is done, you can have more than just his tongue. You can even keep his beskar.”

Double Trouble didn’t say anything, they hardly even acknowledged Gratina. They just kept staring into Ace’s visor. After a few moments, Double Trouble finally stepped down and started to walk away.

Gratina got into Ace’s face and told him, “You love pushing buttons, don’t you?”

“It’s a gift.” Ace replied.

As Double Trouble reached the door, they turned and told Gratina, “Oh, I have to warn you. The Guild does have something that could be a problem.”

Gratina turned and asked, “Such as?”

“Nothing serious, just this.”

Double Trouble shook their shoulders, letting the cloak fall to the ground, revealing them drawing their blasters and shot one of the guards next to Ace in the face. Gratina jumped out of the way and Ace’s binders came loose. When Double Trouble got in his face, they unlocked the binders. Once he was free, Ace elbowed the other guard in the face, knocking her unconscious. As she fell, he grabbed on to her vibro-axe and looked to see the other hunters swarming.

“Kill them!” Gratina ordered as she ran behind some large crates.

Some hunters face Ace with their weapons, but Double Trouble helped him out by shooting some of the hunters. After a short while, Ace had had enough.

“Double Trouble!” he shouted, holding out his hand.

Double Trouble had Ace’s blaster wrapped in their tail and tossed it to Ace. He dropped the axe and started to fire back, making some of the hunters retreat next to Gratina. One hunter tried to attack Double Trouble from behind, but their tail wrapped around her throat and swung her over the rail of the water pit, tossing her into the water abyss.

Six hunters hid with Gratina, ducking from the blaster fire. Gratina drew her arbor blades and said, “We can still take them! There’s only two of them!”

“Look around you, Gratina!” one of the women shouted, earning a shocked but angered glare from Gratina. She told her, “There’s only a handful left out there and there’s just us here! They have blasters, we don’t!”

Gratina argued, “You’ve lasted this long without blasters! Why are you complaining now?”

“Because you never gave us any real jobs! I can’t believe I stayed this long with you!”

“Are you questioning my leadership, Kasandra?”

“I am! Every decision you have made since the Empire fell has led us from bad to worst!” Kasandra looked over and saw a large vent next to where they were hiding and kicked the grate in. She looked around at the other women hiding and said, “Anyone who wants to get out alive, follow me!”

Now furious, Gratina shouted, “If any of you leave, you won’t be welcomed back!”

“We’ll take our chances!” Kasandra replied as she crawled into the vent, all but Gratina and two others following her.

Gratina couldn’t believe how many just abandoned her right then and there. Now she was feeling desperate. She called into the vent, “What about glory to the feminine?”

Kasandra looked back and shouted, “Screw glory and screw you!”

Gratina could only watch in disgust and betrayal as her hunters crawled away to safety, leaving her with only the few left alive to face Ace and Double Trouble and the two next to her. She was trapped with only her blades against two gun toting bounty hunters. How could she not foresee Double Trouble’s betrayal? Even after offering them leniency and a place in House Renliss, Double Trouble still turned on her. Now, she wanted them dead even more than Ace.

“Alright, get ready.” she said, prepping her blades. The other also prepped their blades and they all jumped up from their hiding place.

Ace and Double Trouble were waiting for them, the two blasting the guards in the face. They pointed their blasters at Gratina and she could only stare at them. The familiar death glare from a Mandalorian’s helmet and Double Trouble’s famous smirk made her realize that she was trapped. She then dropped her blades, not because they had her but she was in utter shock at the amount of dead Renliss hunters laid on the ground. They didn’t even stand a chance.

Double Trouble mocked, “Well, well, looks like your little house toppled over. That’s what you get for building it on dry sand.”

“It’s over, Renliss.” Ace said, lowering his blaster. “Your plan was doomed from the start. Your group had only blades and fancy fighting techniques. I’ll admit that Teras Kasi is impressive, it’s nothing against a good blaster at your side.”

Still in shock, Renliss looked at Double Trouble and pleaded, “How could you do this? I offered you a place in House Renliss. I was going to offer you so much.”

Double Trouble cackled, “Oh love, you were only after glory! I’m after a paycheck! Within these few months, I made more money than I know what to do with in the Guild. You only wanted to push an agenda. I hate to break it to you, darling, but agendas don’t pay the bills.”

Angered, Gratina sneered, “This isn’t over. You think this is all that I had? Think again. There are more of House Renliss out there. You can kill me, but if you do you’ll invoke their wrath.”

“We’re not going to kill you.” Ace said, telling Double Trouble to lower their blaster. Without any blasters on her, Ace told her, “Go, leave. Remember your failure.”

Gratina said nothing, only glared. Double Trouble’s smirk and Ace’s glare mocked her, but she knew when the opportunity to run was given, take it. She ran out of the building, leaving Ace and Double Trouble with the room full of death.

“Well, that was easy.” Double Trouble said, holstering their blasters.

Ace nodded, but proclaimed, “This isn’t the last time we’ll hear from her. She’s bold, but thick headed. A dangerous combination.”

“You think she’ll come after the Guild again?”

“Nah, she’ll come after us before she’ll go after the Guild. It may be a good idea to lay low for a bit.”

Double Trouble gave Ace a wide-eyed look before smiling and asking, “Aww, you worried about me?”

Ace said nothing, but they were even more surprised when Ace holstered his blaster and reached for his helmet. Double Trouble stood idle as they watched Ace lift his helmet up off his head. Ace turned and faced Double Trouble, the changeling bounty hunter in awe at Ace’s face.

“Honestly, I am.” Ace said with a smile. He went over and held his hand out. Double Trouble flinched because Ace once told them that he would only remove his helmet as a sign of trust or so his enemies would look in his eyes as he tormented them. They looked back up Ace, who told them, “You’re one of the few friends I have out there. This is my fight and I don’t want you to get caught up in this.”

Double Trouble was still surprised, but they gave a genuine smile nonetheless. They reached up and gripped Ace’s hand.

* * *

House Renliss used a decommissioned Imperial skyhook that hovered over Bogden as a base of operations. Gratina managed to fly offworld and make it back to her base. She immediately retired to her private quarters to lament her failure. She had thought long and hard over the betrayal at the hands of not only Double Trouble, who despite not technically being female but she wanted them in House Renliss, but at the hands of her most faithful. Kasandra was one of her strongest enforcers and a brilliant strategist. Now, Kasandra took some of her hunters and abandoned her. Though there were still plenty of skilled hunters in House Renliss, she lost most of her best. They were down an entire battalion and they needed more hunters to commence any plans of resurgence.

That was when her mind finally made a very important decision.

She had called all the hunters into the main hall of the skyhook and had droids pilot carrier trams with crates on the flatbeds. With all of her hunters looking on, she opened one and pulled out a blaster.

“It’s time we return to our roots.” she proclaimed, looking the blaster over. Though she would never admit it, Ace was right. Tares Kasi and other forms of melee and hand to hand combat were the trade skill of House Renliss, it was time to return to the times and embrace blasters once more. She thought they were unnecessary and barbaric, but her failure taught her well. She tossed the blaster to one hunter, who handled it like it would go off in her hands, and she told the group, “We lost some of our best and brightest because we were ill prepared. We cannot let this happen again.”

She then ordered all her hunters to start collecting blasters, none of them really knowing what to do with them. She assured them that proper training would begin soon. After a while, many of them began to feel comfortable with blasters, pleasing her.

“Ma-fina, come here.” she ordered a Twi’lek over. The Twi’lek asked her bidding and she ordered, “I want you to get me a list of some of the best female bounty hunters in the galaxy. I want them to go after Ace first, then Double Trouble. And find a currency exchange that will take our credits. We’ll need them.”

“Right on it, Gratina.” the Twi’lek replied then went off to do what she was ordered.

Breaking away from the group as they collected their weapons, she asked out loud, “What can you tell me about this Mandalorian? This…’Ace’?”

Stepping out of the shadows was a lone female Mandalorian. Her armor was like the standard shock trooper, but her helmet was different. Instead of the usual T-visor that most Mandalorians branded, her helmet was based off of the skull of the Executioners, an elite and blood thirsty offset of the Mandalorians. They were banished for their horrendous and cold hearted actions, but were on the payroll of the Empire. Her armor was black save for the aged white that added more to the skeletal look of bone on her helmet and the ribcage design on her breastplates.

The Mandalorian told Gratina, “I’ll tell you everything, even his real name.”

**Author's Note:**

> yialeti'r*-bitch
> 
> Heyo, welcome back. I had this story in mind after I wrote my first story with Double Trouble. I don't think it was a big secret that Double Trouble would be a double agent (HA!), but I still wanted to play it off as if they betrayed Ace. I will be going into more original characters along with characters from Legends like Gratina Renliss, but we'll be back with Double Trouble and other characters I've written about. It's cool to write characters you love in these stories, but sometimes you've got to write your own stuff. So, keep an eye out for all of that ;) Peace.


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